My wounds had healed. The stab wound on my side still gave me problems but was so much more manageable than when I’d first come home, but the mark on my cheek wasn’t something I could hide under clothes.
Makeup was my best friend. I added a light layer of concealer to tone down the redness. It would take time to get used to seeing the scar on my face. What bothered me wasn’t the imperfection but the reminder it created. I hoped over time it would dull, not just the jagged line but the imprint it had stamped in my memory. I didn’t want to relive that night. It was bad enough seeing it again in my dreams. The rope burns on my wrists had faded as well and were easily covered up with bracelets. Another week and that reminder would vanish.
But I couldn’t avoid the world.
Life went on.
I stared at myself in the mirror and took a breath. It was time to lift my chin and get out there or college would pass me by. “You don’t give a shit what anyone else thinks of you. Never did, and you’re surely not going to start now,” I told my reflection.
“You done giving yourself a pep talk?” Josie leaned in the doorway, a smile on her lips and strands of pink hair falling over her shoulders. “It was a pretty good one, though.” She stepped into the bathroom and glanced at me through the mirror. “No one else’s opinion matters. When I first came to Elmwood Academy, it was one of the things I admired most about you. That and your ability to tell the Elite to fuck off.”
I chuckled, releasing the smile that wanted to curl on my lips. “They were such dicks in high school.”
“They’re still mostly dicks.”
No argument there.
“I can’t believe we’re in college still going to watch the same boys play football.” Neither Josie nor I was big on sports, but once she got a glimpse of Brock in his uniform, her interest in the game developed, though it was only him she cared about. The girl still didn’t know shit about offense or defense. Dragging Josie to her first academy game was an experience I’d never forget.
She toyed with her necklace, a charm that said PERFECT with a crooked T. It had been a gift from Brock. “We might be watching some of them a lot longer than college,” she replied wistfully.
I wrinkled my nose. “Fynn for sure. I know Micah loves the game when his father isn’t shoving it down his throat, but I think college ball will be the end for him. What about Brock?” I asked, shoving my makeup back into its travel bag.
Shrugging, she straightened off the doorway. “He hasn’t made up his mind, but a part of him wants to go to the pros like Fynn. Maybe not quite as much, but I wouldn’t rule it out.”
Fluffing my hair one last time, I grabbed my phone and shoved it into my bag. “I think it's time I moved back into the dorm.”
“Are you sure you’re ready? No one would fault you for not wanting to move back in. It’s kind of cozy here, you all snuggled up with Micah every night.” She gave me that look like she knew a lot more than snuggling was going on and then turned to the side so I could leave the bathroom.
“Do you wish you’d moved into the house with Brock instead?” I asked, walking to the bedroom door.
She shook her head as we entered the hallway. “No. Don’t get me wrong. I miss the jerk. A lot. But I need this time alone and with my crew.” Her lips twitched over the newly coined name we’d given ourselves. “I don’t want my life to just become about Brock or the Elite.”
The cameras in our dorm had been dealt with, but the fraternity had not. The time would come, sooner than I was probably ready for. Despite Brock’s ordering, pleading, barking, and pouting, Josie moved back into the dorm with Kenna and Ainsley the week I came home from the hospital. “When did you become so wise?”
She gently linked arms as we descended the stairs and rolled her eyes. “Obviously the day I met you.”
I didn’t believe that for a second. Josie James was not someone who made decisions lightly. She had a tough life, and I admired her fighting spirit—her survival instincts.
Together we walked through campus with the dozens and dozens of other students all making their way to the field. It was a busy day at the university, the grounds decorated with school pride on every corner. A buzz of excited energy vibrated through the air.
We shuffled our way into the stands along with the hundreds of other students, parents, and college staff to watch the Kingsley Knights tear down the opposing team. The stadium looked like a sea of silver and purple, the university’s colors.
Ainsley and Kenna had saved our seats. They were bickering over who had the best pizza in Elmwood when Josie and I arrived. Somehow seeing the two of them back to giving each other attitude seemed right, as if the world finally returned to normal.
“Did we miss anything?” I asked, plunking down onto the bleachers. My ass would be screaming at me by the end of the game. Someone needed to consider padding these damn things.
“Only Kenna throwing herself at some guys,” Ainsley retorted in a judging way.
Kenna was quick to throw a barb of her own. “Until you scared them off with your witchy eyes.”
This was going to be a fun night. I could tell.
When the Knights came barreling through the tunnel a few minutes later, the crowd surged to their feet in an uproar, banners and signs waving proudly. There really wasn’t an experience like an entire school coming together to support their team, especially in a town that worshipped football and its players. They were treated like celebrities, and if they came from money, their status rose to godlike.
My eyes immediately detected Micah on the field, and as if he were the opposite side of my magnet, those light blue eyes found mine. Dimples graced either side of his cheeks. He lifted the helmet dangling from his fingers into the air. I shook my head, grinning like the hopelessly-in-love fool I was.
Over the next three hours, the four of us watched the Knights battle against the Hurricanes on the field. It wasn’t like high school in the sense that our team didn’t slaughter the visitors. The Knights had to fight tooth and nail to stay head-to-head with their opponent, something neither Brock nor Micah was accustomed to. At one point they looked worried.